For example, in a manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, there has been a single-wafer type liquid processing in which various chemical liquids are supplied to the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as “wafer”), which is used as a substrate to be processed, while maintaining the semiconductor wafer rotatably and rotating the semiconductor wafer around a vertical axis. In such a liquid processing using the chemical liquid, the contact temperature of the chemical liquid with the wafer is increased to enhance the process activity of the chemical liquid, thereby shortening a processing time.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-115474 discloses a technique in which a liquid for heating that was heated in advance is supplied to the central portion of a substrate to increase the temperature of the substrate, so that the contact temperature of the substrate with the chemical liquid supplied to a circumferential edge of the substrate is increased. However, in the technique described above, a chemical liquid supplied to the circumferential edge of the substrate is diluted by the heated liquid, so that the processing time is extended, and even a portion that does not need to be heated is heated as well.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-28059 discloses a liquid processing apparatus performing a liquid processing by supplying a processing liquid to a lower surface side of a wafer held horizontally. The liquid processing apparatus includes a cover member (top plate) arranged at an upper surface of the wafer to oppose and have a space therebetween, and a protrusion provided at the circumferential edge of the cover member along a circumferential direction protruding downward. A gas (inert gas) flows in the space between the cover member and the wafer, passes through a gap between the protrusion and the wafer, and flows outside the wafer. However, there is no description about a mechanism for heating a wafer in the liquid processing apparatus.